Hi,
My name is Henri Korvela (on MrExcel, I'm snowblizz) and I am a PhD student/researcher at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku (Åbo in Swedish), Finland. Some of you know me, most do not, but I’ve been a member for a few years now and am now at a point where I would like the help of the MrExcel community in a matter somewhat related to the Excel. That is helping me answering the question: what makes you answers questions, and what can be done to make this easier for you.
As such, I am mainly aiming the survey towards those who answer questions here on MrExcel, on some kind of regular basis. For short we could say “experts” but that does in no way assume any level of expertise, official or otherwise, nor any particular post count. I myself am at best a moderate level user but would still term myself “expert” in this case on the account of sometimes answering questions on the forum when I can. I have asked the moderators to particularly bring this to the attention of the MrExcel MVPs, but I would encourage anyone who answers questions to respond as well as to spread awareness of the survey to your friends here on MrExcel.
My background for this survey is that I have been researching how end-users could get better support for developing software, e.g. with Excel, by going on-line. A few years ago I was recommended some forums by a reviewer and stumbled upon MrExcel. Since then I have found that a virtual community like MrExcel is and could be a really good way of providing support for a developer, regardless of the level of expertise one has.
Most experienced users are aware of dos and don'ts on-line. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of ways to better reach the experts. I am trying to confirm that empirically.
There are two main goals with the survey, to investigate the knowledge sharing in a virtual community compared to similar studies in other organisations and settings and what impact can someone seeking help have on the process.
The results of the survey will be published in a research outlet and will be part of my (eventual) PhD thesis. I have also promised to give a report to the MrExcel administration. The important thing is that it will all be completely anonymous and no one will be able to identify anyone. So be as frank and honest as you can!
The survey is administered through my university’s on-line survey system and should be reasonably secure for this purpose. All replies are completely anonymous. There will be no follow-up or reminders sent and I will not contact anyone further, unless you want me to (PM me on the forums). If there are any questions please post them or PM me, I can also be reached by e-mail, just replace the _dot_s and _at_ with a dot and at sign, you know the drill I’m sure: Henri_dot_Korvela_at_abo_dot_fi
The survey contains the following sections:
It is possible to save a partial survey and continue filling it out later. Scroll to the bottom of the survey and click the checkbox, provide an e-mail address and click "save". The system will send you a link that will allow you to access the saved incomplete survey. Please remember to save the incomplete survey when you have filled it out so it registers as completed. I will not be able to remind or prompt people to do this so it is important you remember to do it yourself.
The survey will be open until the end of the year, but please respond and complete a survey before the end of November as that will give me time to analyse the responses.
Unfortunately I can not provide any compensation for participation, but I hope the MrExcel community would extend the helpfulness I’ve found so far to also answering my survey. You will be helping in furthering my research and maybe make the world just a tiny bit better. I would like to thank everyone who participates in advance.
Take the survey now!
Kind regards,
Henri Korvela (aka snowblizz)
Ph.D. student at Åbo Akademi University.
My name is Henri Korvela (on MrExcel, I'm snowblizz) and I am a PhD student/researcher at the Åbo Akademi University in Turku (Åbo in Swedish), Finland. Some of you know me, most do not, but I’ve been a member for a few years now and am now at a point where I would like the help of the MrExcel community in a matter somewhat related to the Excel. That is helping me answering the question: what makes you answers questions, and what can be done to make this easier for you.
As such, I am mainly aiming the survey towards those who answer questions here on MrExcel, on some kind of regular basis. For short we could say “experts” but that does in no way assume any level of expertise, official or otherwise, nor any particular post count. I myself am at best a moderate level user but would still term myself “expert” in this case on the account of sometimes answering questions on the forum when I can. I have asked the moderators to particularly bring this to the attention of the MrExcel MVPs, but I would encourage anyone who answers questions to respond as well as to spread awareness of the survey to your friends here on MrExcel.
My background for this survey is that I have been researching how end-users could get better support for developing software, e.g. with Excel, by going on-line. A few years ago I was recommended some forums by a reviewer and stumbled upon MrExcel. Since then I have found that a virtual community like MrExcel is and could be a really good way of providing support for a developer, regardless of the level of expertise one has.
Most experienced users are aware of dos and don'ts on-line. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of ways to better reach the experts. I am trying to confirm that empirically.
There are two main goals with the survey, to investigate the knowledge sharing in a virtual community compared to similar studies in other organisations and settings and what impact can someone seeking help have on the process.
The results of the survey will be published in a research outlet and will be part of my (eventual) PhD thesis. I have also promised to give a report to the MrExcel administration. The important thing is that it will all be completely anonymous and no one will be able to identify anyone. So be as frank and honest as you can!
The survey is administered through my university’s on-line survey system and should be reasonably secure for this purpose. All replies are completely anonymous. There will be no follow-up or reminders sent and I will not contact anyone further, unless you want me to (PM me on the forums). If there are any questions please post them or PM me, I can also be reached by e-mail, just replace the _dot_s and _at_ with a dot and at sign, you know the drill I’m sure: Henri_dot_Korvela_at_abo_dot_fi
The survey contains the following sections:
- Demographic information
- Questions on your Forum reading habits
- Questions regarding your Perception of the community
- Questions regarding your Knowledge management activities
- Questions regarding the Influence of thread topic, contents and poster's actions on your participation in the community and helping process.
- Questions regarding your Self-efficacy and expertise
- Questions regarding Motivations that impact on your decision to participate.
- Questions regarding Attitude, Intention and subjective norms to share knowledge
It is possible to save a partial survey and continue filling it out later. Scroll to the bottom of the survey and click the checkbox, provide an e-mail address and click "save". The system will send you a link that will allow you to access the saved incomplete survey. Please remember to save the incomplete survey when you have filled it out so it registers as completed. I will not be able to remind or prompt people to do this so it is important you remember to do it yourself.
The survey will be open until the end of the year, but please respond and complete a survey before the end of November as that will give me time to analyse the responses.
Unfortunately I can not provide any compensation for participation, but I hope the MrExcel community would extend the helpfulness I’ve found so far to also answering my survey. You will be helping in furthering my research and maybe make the world just a tiny bit better. I would like to thank everyone who participates in advance.
Take the survey now!
Kind regards,
Henri Korvela (aka snowblizz)
Ph.D. student at Åbo Akademi University.
